Duck go

Look out, Google! Duck Duck Go is on the rise, posting a 50% traffic increase in just eight days. Is this proof people want a “private” search engine, in the wake of allegations the PRISM program allows the US government to read search data with unfettered access? Nope. Google has little to worry about. People don’t care about search privacy, and Duck Duck Go’s growth demonstrates this. Don’t get me wrong. If you ask people about search privacy, they’ll respond that it’s a major issue. Big majorities say they don’t want to be tracked nor receive personalized results. But if you look at what people actually do, virtually none of them make efforts to have more private search. Duck Duck Go’s growth is an excellent case study to prove this. Despite it growing, it’s not grown anywhere near the amount to reflect any substantial or even mildly notable switching by the searching public. Duck Duck Go’s Growth, In Perspective Duck … [Read more...] about Duck Duck Go’s Post-PRISM Growth Actually Proves No One Cares About “Private” Search

Running a blog often sounds very appealing. You’ll have a place to share your thoughts, build a community, and also generate some much-needed cash. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Well, the reality is it’s not as easy to achieve this as a lot of people make out. I hear the same old things time after time: “Just create awesome content” or “Build a social media following so that you can drive traffic back to your blog.” It sounds obvious, doesn’t it? That’s because it is obvious. Who in their right mind would start a blog with the intention of producing crap content and completely neglecting social media? Morons, that’s who. The reality is you could be producing the most awesome content in the world, but if nobody gets their eyeballs on it then it all goes to waste. I’ve been blogging for a fair amount of time now and have learnt a lot of tough lessons along the way. During my early days of blogging, the thing that I really … [Read more...] about Blogging 101: Traffic Generation for Blogs on a Budget

When people think of search engines, the first name that comes to mind is often Google. It’s one of the most enduring brand names, and it has even worked its way into mainstream vernacular, and today many people substitute the phrase “searched online” for “Googled”. According to comScore, Inc., Google and its affiliated websites comprise 67.6% of the search engine market share in the United States, and, according to Netmarketshare 66.44% worldwide. Though prominent, Google is not the only search engine available. There are innumerable others that provide various interfaces, search algorithms, and other unique features. Many even base their search algorithms around specific philosophies, ones that often attract brand-new audiences. In descending order, the remaining most popular search engine companies in the United States, by market share after Google, are Microsoft (18.7%), Yahoo (10.0%), Ask Network (2.4%), and AOL (1.3%), according to ComScore report. … [Read more...] about A Comprehensive List of Search Engines

Semantic search. You’ve heard of it, you’ve researched it and you’re probably wondering what to do about it. Black hat, white hat, and everything in between could soon be a thing of the past, as semantic search forces the industry to revert back to the question: What does the user want? It’s a simple concept, but one that has been lost in a whirlwind of advice, speculation, and see-what-sticks techniques. Semantic search gives the industry a chance to go back to basics and provide information rather than force it. Let’s take a look at how to embrace semantics. Think Like a User Simply put, if you’re going to optimize for the user, you need to think like the user. In the world of semantics, keywords just don’t cut it. You need to be thinking beyond long tail. Take the above example. You can see that semantics for a generic term already highlights a wealth of information that a search engine has matched to the keyword. Imagine you are building … [Read more...] about 12 Things You Need to Do for Semantic Search

I’ve heard about DuckDuckGo a few times over the years, mostly as a name uttered in hushed whispers behind closed doors – “You don’t have to use Google. There is another way.” As far as I knew, it was a small, scrappy start-up that had nevertheless managed to make its mark in the world of search, dominated as it is by the vast and all-knowing Google. Frustration with Google might be at a high at the moment with tax-dodging, increasing dominance of search (and now the mobile web) and removing ads on the right hand side at the expense of organic search results. Therefore I was intrigued by the comments from DuckDuckGo fans on Jason Tabeling’s article on whether you should be paying more attention to DuckDuckGo, urging people to switch to DuckDuckGo and discover the ‘real internet’. How would searches from such a small engine stack up against Google’s, in everyday situations? Would using DuckDuckGo be an exercise in frustration, or a … [Read more...] about Going over to the duck side: a week using DuckDuckGo